An Analysis of The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken is one of Robert Frosts most famous poems. Theimagery he creates is wonderful, and the pace and rhyming scheme make it pleasant toread and to listen to. Deeper than that, this poem is about decision-making, and how thechoices you make will always lead to an outcome. Frost is pointing out that whether ornot the choice you make is good or bad, your choices are what make all the difference.The poem begins with a decision that the narrator is confronted with, described inthe form of two diverging roads. The narrator is sorry I could not travel both, whichindicates that it is a tough decision, and he wishes that he could go both ways. Helooked down one as far as I could, and then took the other, as just as fair. This showsthat he is studying both options out in his mind, just as we are taught to do in Doctrineand Covenants 9:8. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in yourmind The narrator goes on to say that the passing there had worn them really aboutthe same. This shows that the choices he had to choose from had seemingly the sameoutcome. For example, when youre deciding what to wear in the morning, or whenyoure choosing between toast or corn flakes for breakfast. Will these decisions reallyaffect your life in some dramatic way? Probably not. Unless, of course, you factor in thetemperature outside, or whether youre going to the beach or to the supermarket. Whatyou eat for breakfast depends on when youll be able to eat again. If youre going to beeating within the next few hours, a piece of toast might be just fine to hold you over. Ifyou wont be able to eat until much later in the afternoon, you might want to eatsomething with a little more substance. These are very elementary examples, and Frostprobably isnt talking about standing in the woods trying to decide what to eat for

breakfast, but it does show that not every choice has a definite black and white obviousoutcome. In every choice we make, there are multiple factors and variables that must betaken into account.The narrator goes on to say that both roads lay equally in leaves no step hadtrodden black, which shows that no one else had made the decision, so he had no stepsto follow. The first road he had looked down as far as he could, and the second wasgrassy and wanted wear. This shows that even though he could see further down oneroad, or that one choice seemed more obvious to him, that the second one wanted wear,meaning that it was the road he felt he should take. Its almost as if the roads weremaking the decision for him. This can happen to us in our own decision-making. Wecan see all of the factors in one decision, yet; somehow we know that we should go theother direction. So, he kept the first for another day. This is where he actively makeshis choice. He chooses to take the more grassy road, and decides that he will come backand take the other road another day. But, as we all know, once we make a choice we cannever go back and undo it. The narrator knows this, and he says, Yet knowing how wayleads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. As much as he, or anyone, wantsto go back and try both roads, he knows that it would be impossible. He would alreadyhave the experiences from the road he chose, so even if he went back and tried it out justto see what might have happened, he would never really know.He goes on to wrap up his journey by saying I shall be telling this with a sighsomewhere ages and ages hence. I see this as the narrator being a relatively young manspeaking with wisdom beyond his years. Here he is, at a crossroads in his life, alreadyknowing that whichever decision he makes will affect his life in a way that he cant take

back. It seems like such an obvious thing, but sometimes it can be easily forgotten andwe think that our choices dont really have that much of an impact. This is apparent inthe people of my generation today. All you have to do is turn on essentially any realityTV show and you can see decision-making at its worst. In the MTV show The RealWorld almost every episode is filled with dramatic situations because somebody gotdrunk and did something inappropriate or disrespectful, or somebody did something justbecause they wanted to, without taking into account how their actions might affect any ofthe people around them. Our narrator, however, knows that the choice he makes doeshave an impact. He doesnt say this directly, but the fact that hes standing in the woodsthinking about what might happen in either direction shows us this.Then we come to the most quoted part of this poem: Two roads diverged in awood, and II took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Atfirst, our gut reaction is to think that he made the right decision. This is not statedanywhere, and I do not think that is how these lines were intended to be interpreted. Heonly says that the road he chose has made all the difference. Whether or not the choicewas right or wrong, good or bad, is irrelevant. The point hes making is that the choicehe made set him in the direction that has made him who he is. From the first choice totake that road, he has been faced with choice upon choice upon choice, which hasbrought him to where he is, or where he will be, later on in life. This choice, for us, canbe where we decide to go to school, or who we decide to marry, or if were a vegetarian,or if we shoot someone, or if we buy a car or a home. It can be a small decision or alarge decision; a decision made for yourself or for your entire family; or a decision madefor a small community or for an entire nation.

Beyond the light feeling of this poembeyond the happiness an individual mightfeel as they reach the end of this poemlies the simple truth that our choices directlycorrelate with the person we become.